The present disclosure generally relates to printing systems and methods. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a print media rotary transport system and method to transport print media from a first print media transport module, pathway, highway, printer, etc., to a second print media transport module, pathway, highway printer, etc.
To provide for increased printing capabilities, some conventional printing systems include multiple printing modules which are interfaced with a common print media sheet feeder and/or a common print media sheet finishing system. One benefit of such an integrated printing system is increased production speed. These so-called “cluster printing systems” enable relatively higher print rates by grouping a number of printing modules in parallel. In addition, those cluster printing systems can provide an improvement in overall system reliability because of the redundancy provided with multiple printing modules. For example, if one printing module is taken off-line for service or repair, other printing modules are available to continue meeting the output requirements of the overall printing system. In addition to the benefits associated with a cluster or parallel printing system related to overall printing speed and reliability, a cluster printing system enables the integration of multiple marking engines for black, color and custom color printing of selected pages within a print job by a specific marking engine. The printed media sheets from the plurality of marking engines are subsequently merged in a predetermined sequence to produce the completed print job. Merging of the printed media sheets is performed by what is sometimes referred to as a merger module.
One challenge associated with conventional cluster printing systems is transporting the print media to the respective printing modules or marking engines for printing, and transporting the printed media document to a printing system output and/or finishing system.
Conventional printing systems utilize horizontal and vertical print media paths incorporating nips and rollers to facilitate the movement of print media sheets within the overall printing system. The print media paths interconnect the various printing system modules to provide a complete cluster printing system.
In addition to horizontal and vertical print media paths, conventional cluster printing systems incorporate print media rotators to provide print media routing between orthogonally aligned print media pathways.
One printing system that provides a print media transport system including a rotator is U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/291,583, filed on Nov. 30, 2005. The rotator disclosed rotates a print media about an axis parallel to the sheet plane.
This disclosure provides a printing system and method of rotating a print media sheet about an axis orthogonal to the sheet plane.